Eat Less Meat. A Radical Plan to Slow Climate Chan

By host - DeAnnFrederickThe world must drastically reduce its meat consumption in order to avoid devastating climate change. Food production - which produces damaging greenhouse gases from livestock, ruins enormous swathes of forests and uses unsustainable amounts of water - is a major contributor to climate change.

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Livestock farming poses a triple threat to Earth's atmosphere, as animals produce huge amounts of the greenhouse gas methane, coupled with the loss of carbon-absorbing forests that are felled to accommodate their grazing areas.

Raising livestock requires a great deal of land – both for the animals themselves and for growing the large quantities of food required to feed them. As demand for animal products rises, farmers and ranchers must find more land, often cutting down forests in the process.

In my view, there are a lot of reasons for either choosing animal protein or opting for a vegetarian selection. However, foregoing meat and meat products is not the environmental panacea many would have us believe. And if taken to an extreme, it also could have harmful nutritional consequences.

2 mths

ياسر.الصباغ, noureddine.noureddine, houbou.hayati and 7 other people started following this discussion

Huge reductions in meat-eating are essential to avoid dangerous climate change. However, enormous changes to farming are needed to avoid destroying the planet’s ability to feed the 10 billion people expected to be on the planet in a few decades.

To halt deforestation, water shortages and pollution from overuse of fertiliser, profound changes in farming practices are needed. These include increasing crop yields in poorer nations, more universal water storage and far more careful use of fertilisers.

we really need much more proactive governments to provide the right framework. People can make a personal difference by changing their diet, but also by knocking on the doors of their politicians and saying we need better environmental regulations – that is also very important. Do not let politicians off the hook.

We know food choices are very personal, and that behaviour change can be difficult to encourage, but the evidence is now unequivocal – we need to change our diets if we are to have a sustainable future. The fact that it will also make us healthier makes it a no-brainer.

We know food choices are very personal, and that behaviour change can be difficult to encourage, but the evidence is now unequivocal – we need to change our diets if we are to have a sustainable future. The fact that it will also make us healthier makes it a no-brainer.